The PNC betrayed African Guyanese; here is the evidence

Nov 27, 2020 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – Leonard Craig and Michael Carrington are two of the better young people politics has produced. I say this because I knew them moons ago before they found a place in the AFC leadership. I taught Craig at UG; I knew Carrington a long, long time ago. Craig has resigned from the AFC. I would urge Carrington to do the same ASAP. I would urge President Ali to reach out to them. They are not party diehards even in the remotest way.
When their party, the AFC, got into power, I urged both of them to raise their voices. This exhortation I exhibited countless times. I will never forget a conversation between me and Craig over the phone. I called to chastise him on an unpalatable thing an AFC executive had said about the ethnic reality in Guyana. I admonished him for sitting in silence at that meeting.
This was something no patriotic Guyanese should ever utter. It is so sickening I cannot repeat it. I will not reveal the person’s name to you if I do not know you because you are not going to come even close to pushing me up the steps of the High Court. I will reveal what was said only. My cell is 614-5927. My email is [email protected]. Of course, you could ask Craig too.
Here was Craig’s explanation. He said when you are in the leadership of a party, there are times when things come up that should never come up, you give one to the party. Those were his words. He went on to say that this is what party leadership demands, that there are times you just don’t rock the boat. He went on to explain that he thinks I do not hold such an attitude and that explains why I am never, and have never been, in political organizations.
Craig knows me a long time, and he is right. I come now to the relevance of the background above. If I was in the PNC hierarchy, and in 2016 the PNC had withdrawn the amendment to the anti-narcotic act that was on the Order Paper of the House, I would have walked straight into the office of the president, and tell him to get out of my country and my party. Were I in the AFC’s war room, I would have told my leader to jump in the ocean with Jaws after the Bill was scuttled.
To date not one of the clowns that purport to speak for African Guyanese and who are supposed to fight India hegemony to protect African-Guyanese and see they have a place in the sun has spoken out against what happened to that Bill in 2016. Let us briefly recap the betrayal of African Guyanese. The APNU+AFC promised in its 2015 manifesto to remove the draconian section of the law that jails possessors of small amounts of ganja.
Nigel Hughes and Mark Waldron drafted the amendment to be read in the name of AFC parliamentarian, Michael Carrington. It was put on the Order Paper to be tabled and read. The PPP stated it would support the legislation. In the same year, it was taken off the Order Paper.
To this day, one human in Guyana has publicly stated why the Bill was shelved. That person is Michael Carrington who told a media house that Amna Ally, Chief Whip at the time, told him President Granger was uncomfortable with the legislation. The only boldness Granger has shown as president in relation to the rejection of the Hughes/Carrington Bill was to publicly state that Guyana has to be careful how it copies from other countries. Mr. Granger never displayed testicular boldness in facing the nation on his decision to shelf the Bill.
This week, Attorney-General, Anil Nandlall, informed the nation that the legislation would soon be changed. I would ask the AG to note that in Jamaica, legal possession is 40 grams and in Trinidad, those convicted and jailed for small amounts were released and their files expunged from the record. It means that they can apply for a foreign visa because no conviction would be recorded against their name.
So in 2021, an Indian dominated government will remove a monster that has devoured young African Guyanese. How can African Guyanese in and out of this country support these betrayers who say they are fighting for the African Guyanese future and against an Indian dominated government that will discriminate African Guyanese? My honest advice to the PPP leadership is to reach out to African Guyanese in genuine ways, so Guyana can chase the PNC, ACDA and their apologists to the circus in Russia.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)